Library service port

ABSTRACT

A data storage library and method of operation are disclosed wherein access at least to part of at least one robotics mechanism from the data storage library&#39;s exterior is permitted. Access is accomplished through a service port in the library&#39;s housing. Access to the storage cells, and thus the data cartridges sitting therein, from the library&#39;s exterior is blocked. Blocking access to the storage cells may be provided by a geometry of the service port itself, or by a combination of a door and the robotics mechanism being serviced filling the opening created by the service port. For robotics mechanisms operating on a track, part of the track may be routed through the service port to bring the robotics mechanisms to the exterior of the library for maintenance purposes.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 10/269,717 filed on Oct. 11, 2002 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,669,430,entitled “Library Service Port,” which is a divisional of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/106,407 filed on Mar. 26, 2002 now U.S. Pat. No.6,499,928, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/481,901 filed on Jan. 12, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,409,450.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the field of automated data storagelibraries having robotics mechanisms.

BACKGROUND ART

Automated data storage libraries incorporate one or more roboticsmechanisms for moving data cartridges around within the library. Fromtime to time, these robotics mechanisms require maintenance actions.Maintenance is usually performed through a service door in the library'shousing that allows personnel to access robotics mechanisms inside thelibrary. All of the robotics mechanisms within the library are usuallyshut down any time the service door is open. This shut down is done forthe safety of the personnel performing the maintenance on the robots.

The approach of shutting down the robotics mechanisms during maintenanceis costly to the automated data storage library owner in terms of downtime of the library and security for the data within. The library canperform no useful work while the service door is open and all of therobots are shut down. Even if maintenance is required on only onerobotics mechanism, the other robots must be stopped in order to avoidpossible collisions with the personnel. This means that no new datacartridges can be mounted into the read/write drives, and datacartridges currently in the read/write drives cannot be dismountedduring maintenance operations.

The open service door also raises a question of security for the datacartridges within the library. Once personnel have access to theinterior of the library, it is easy for them to add, remove, orrearrange the data cartridges resting in the library's storage cells. Anaudit of all data cartridges within the library is usually performedonce the service door has been closed to verify that no manualmanipulation of the data cartridges had taken place. For small librariescontaining only a few data cartridges, an audit can be completed inseveral minutes. Very large data storage libraries containing thousandsof data cartridges may require more than one hour to complete an audit.At a minimum, productive time of the library is lost during the audit.In a worse case scenario, data within the library has been eithercorrupted or lost.

What is desired is an approach that allows access to the roboticsmechanisms from the exterior of the library while simultaneouslyblocking access to the data cartridges stored within. In large librarysystems containing multiple robots, it is desirable that the robots notbeing serviced are allowed to continue their normal operations.Preferably, the approach also blocks personnel access to these activerobots while the one robot is being serviced.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The present invention is a data storage library and method of operationin which access to at least part of at least one robotics mechanism ispermitted from an exterior region around the library while access to themultiple storage cells on the interior of the library is blocked. Aservice port provides access through the housing of the library to therobot mechanism being serviced. Access to the storage cells is blockedby either the geometry of the service port itself, or a combination of adoor covering the service port and the robot mechanism being serviced.

In data storage libraries having robots operating along tracks, aportion of the track may be routed through the service port. Thisportion of track allows the entire robotics mechanism to be brought tothe library's exterior for maintenance purposes. In one embodiment, amechanical stop is provided at the end of the track to keep the roboticsmechanism from leaving the track. In an alternative embodiment, one endof the track is kept open to allow the robots to be removed from andinstalled back on the track as required.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a datastorage library and method for permitting access to at least part of atleast one robotics mechanism from the exterior of the library through aservice port, while blocking access to the plurality of storage cellsfrom the exterior through the service port.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a data storagelibrary and method for accessing one robotics mechanism of a multiplerobotics mechanism system while leaving the remaining roboticsmechanisms inaccessible.

These and other objects, features and advantages will be readilyapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a typical data storage libraryimplementing the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial overhead cross-sectional view of the data storagelibrary showing a robotics mechanism is approaching the service port;

FIG. 3 is a partial overhead cross-sectional view of the data storagelibrary showing the robotics mechanism entering the service port;

FIG. 3 a is a partial overhead cross-sectional view of another datastorage library showing the robotics mechanism entering the serviceport;

FIG. 4 a is a partial overhead cross-sectional view of another datastorage library showing the robotics mechanism inside the service port;

FIG. 4 is a partial overhead cross-sectional view of the data storagelibrary showing the robotics mechanism inside the service port;

FIG. 5 is a partial overhead cross-sectional view of the data storagelibrary showing an alternative embodiment of the service port withoutdoors;

FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view of the second embodiment of theservice port;

FIG. 7 is a partial overhead cross-sectional view of a second embodimentof the data storage library having a concentric robotics mechanism;

FIG. 8 is a partial overhead cross-sectional view of the second datastorage library with the robotics mechanism aligned with the serviceport;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a third embodiment of the data storagelibrary;

FIG. 10 is an overhead cross-sectional view of the third data storagelibrary; and

FIG. 11 is a partial view of the service port as seen from the interiorof the library.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a prospective view of a typical data storage library 100implementing the present invention. The data storage library 100consists of a plurality of stored cells 102 mounted in an interiorregion 104 of a housing 106. Each storage cell 102 may hold one datacartridge 108 (not shown), such as a magnetic tape or optical disk.Multiple robotics mechanisms 110 operating along tracks 112 (as shown inFIG. 2) are used to move the data cartridges 108 about within the datastorage library 100. A library control unit 114 provides control andcoordination of the robotics mechanisms 110. A service port 116 isprovided through the library housing 106 to permit access to one of therobotics mechanism 110 at a time. In operation, the library control unit114 will command the desired robotics mechanism 110 to move into theservice port 116. Once there, personnel (not shown) standing in theexterior region 118 of the library 100 can reach through an opening 120in the service port 116 to get to the active side of the desiredrobotics mechanism 110. While the robotics mechanism 110 being servicedis positioned within the service port 116, the other robotics mechanisms110 within the library 100 may continue their normal operations. Thisavoids a need to shut down the entire library 100 to service the onerobotics mechanism 110.

FIG. 2 is a partial overhead cross-sectional view showing the datastorage library 100 region surrounding the service port 116. Here, thedesired robotics mechanism 110 a to be serviced can be seen moving alongthe track 112 toward the service port 116.

A door 122, positioned within the service port 116, blocks access fromthe exterior region 118 through the service port 116 to the interiorregion 104 of the data storage library 100. This door 122 in a closedposition effectively disables the service port 116 by preventingpersonnel from reaching into the data storage library 100. Door 122 isshown as a single panel hinged on one side for illustrative purposesonly. It is known in the art that the door 122 may be made from one orseveral panels that rotate, pivot, slide, raise, lower, or otherwisemove between open and closed states. (See, e.g., FIGS. 3 a and 4 ashowing door 122 sliding between open and closed states, respectively,as robotics mechanism 110 a enters service port 116.) It may bepositioned inside the service port 116, as shown in FIG. 2, or it may bepositioned to the interior or exterior sides of the service port 116.

A motor 124 provides mechanical power to open and close door 122. Motor124 may be controlled through the library control unit 114 and/orthrough a sensor 126.

Sensor 126 is used to detect when a robotics mechanism 110 is alignedwith the door 122. It may be a proximity sensor, position sensor, or thelike. Sensing may be accomplished by electro-mechanical, magnetic,optical, acoustic or any other suitable means for detecting the roboticsmechanism 110. Sensor 126 is generally, although not necessarily,positioned between the door 122 and the interior region 104 of thelibrary 100. In the preferred embodiment, it is connected to the librarycontrol unit 114. In an alternative embodiment, it is connected to themotor 124.

Referring to FIG. 3, as the desired robotics mechanism 110 a alignsitself with the interior region 104 side of the service port 116, thesensor 124 detects the presence of the desired robotics mechanism 110 a.Motor 124 then moves the door 122 from its closed position to an openposition. With the door 122 in an open position, the service port 116 isenabled, allowing personnel to see and reach the desired roboticsmechanism 110 a through the service port 116. From this position, oneside 128 of the desired robotics mechanism 110 a is facing the exteriorregion 118. To provide access to the active side 130 of the desiredrobotics mechanism 110 a, the desired robotics mechanism 110 a may bemoved further into the service port 116. Movement is halted when theactive side 130 is aligned with the opening 120, as shown in FIG. 4, orthe desired robotics mechanism 110 a reaches a mechanical stop 132 atthe end of the track 112.

Maintenance may be performed on the desired robotics mechanism 110 afrom the position shown in FIG. 4. Maintenance includes, but is notlimited to, adjusting, cleaning, and the replacement of partsserviceable from the active side 130 of the desired robotics mechanism110 a. Note that while maintenance is being performed on the desiredrobotics mechanism 110 a sitting in the service port 116, other roboticsmechanisms 110 b may continue to operate on the track 112 within thehousing 106. The approach allows the data storage library 100 to remainoperational while maintenance is being performed on the desired roboticsmechanism 110 a.

After maintenance has been completed, the desired robotics mechanism 110a can be returned to the interior region 104 of the data storage library100. After the sensor 126 detects that the desired robotics mechanism110 b has gone past the door 122 on its way back into the interiorregion 104, the motor 124 closes the door 122. The desired roboticsmechanism 110 a is now free to move away from the service port 116 andresume its normal duties. The closed door 122 disables the service port116 by blocking all access to the interior region 104 through theservice port 116. Blocking in this case includes access to datacartridges 108 within the storage cells 102, and access to the otherrobotics mechanisms 110 b.

Because access to the storage cells 102, and the data cartridges 108therein, is blocked always, there is no need to perform an audit of thedata cartridges 108 upon completion of a maintenance task on the desiredrobotics mechanism 110 a. This feature of the present invention may savefrom minutes to hours of useful operational time for the data storagelibrary 100 that would otherwise be lost to the audit.

FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 show an alternative embodiment of the service port 516without a door. Here, the functionality of blocking access to theinterior region 104 is performed by the geometry of a service port 516.It becomes impossible for the personnel (not shown) to manipulate theirarms through the right angle turn to reach the interior region 104 whenthe service port 516 is extended along the exterior of housing 106 asuitable distance. The suitable distance is typically one to four feet,as shown by length L. On the other hand, the robotics mechanisms 110 andtrack 112 can be designed to traverse this right angle turn.

The end of the service port 516 opening to the exterior region 118 maybe shaped as a platform 532 with the track 112 running out onto thatplatform 532. This allows the personnel to access the desired roboticsmechanism 110 a from several different sides, with access to the bottombeing blocked by the platform 532, and access to the back being blockedby the housing 106.

To facilitate access to the entire desired robotics mechanism 110 a, thetrack 112 may be provided with an open end 534. Open end 534 allows thepersonnel to remove the desired robotics mechanism 110 a from the track112, completely disconnecting it from the data storage library 100. Withthe desired robotics mechanism 110 a free, maintenance is no longerconstrained by the walls of the service port 516, by the housing 106, orby the track 112. After completing maintenance, the desired roboticsmechanism 110 a, or even a new robotics mechanism 110 c (not shown) maybe installed back onto the track 112 through the open end 534.

The open end 534 of track 112 provides an extra benefit in that itsupports the expansion of the number of robotics mechanisms 110 withinthe data storage library 100. More robotics mechanisms 110 within thelibrary increase the number of data cartridges 108 that can be movedabout simultaneously. More robotics mechanisms 110 decreases the meantime required to mount or dismount a data cartridge 110. Finally, theoverall library system performance impact caused by any one givenrobotics mechanism 110 failing is decreased when there are redundantrobotics mechanisms 110 available to take its place.

The present invention may also be used with data storage libraries inwhich the robotics mechanism is concentrically mounted within thehousing. Such robotics mechanisms usually have an arm with limitedmotion in the radial direction. These types of robotics mechanisms aregenerally incapable of moving from the interior region into the serviceport. Here, personnel must reach through the service port and into theinterior region to access the robotics mechanism.

FIG. 7 is a partial overhead cross-sectional view of another datastorage library 700 in which the robotics mechanism 710 isconcentrically mounted within the housing 706. This robotics mechanism710 includes, but is not limited to a gripper mechanism 736 mounted onan arm 738 mounted on a column 740. Control of the robotics mechanism710 is provided by the library control unit 714. In this embodiment, theservice port 716 creates a straight opening 720 through the housing 706of the data storage library 700. A pair of doors 722 are mounted insidethe service port 716 to enable and disable access through the serviceport 716. The doors 722 are opened and closed by a motor 724 coupled toboth doors 722 through a linkage 742. The motor 724 is also controlledby the library control unit 714.

During normal operation, the doors 722 are in the closed position, asshown in FIG. 7. Closed doors 722 block all access to the interiorregion 104 of the data storage library 700 from the exterior region 118.The closed doors 722 prevent personnel (not shown) from accessing thedata cartridges 108, and prevent man-machine collisions between thepersonnel and the robotics mechanism 710.

Access to the active side 730 of the robotics mechanism 710 from theexterior region 118 through the opening 720 in the service port 716 iscontrolled by the library control unit 714. The library control unit 714commands the robotics mechanism 710 to align gripper mechanism 736adjacent to the service port 716, as shown in FIG. 8. After the grippermechanism 736 and service port 716 are aligned, the library control unit714 commands the motor 724 to open the doors 722. Personnel can reachthrough the open doors 722 and the opening 720 in service port 716 toaccess the active side 730 of the robotics mechanism 710 that iscurrently facing the exterior region 118. When maintenance is finished,the library control unit 714 commands the motor 724 to close the doors722. After the doors 722 are closed, the robotics mechanism 710 may bemoved away from the service port 716 and returned to its normal duties.

The function of blocking access to the data cartridges 108 sitting inthe storage cells 102 while the doors 722 are open is provided by thegeometry of the service port 716 and that of the robotics mechanism 710.The opening 720 of the service port 716 should be at least as large asthe active side 730 of the gripper mechanism 736. A smaller opening 720may not allow sufficient access to the gripper mechanism 736.Preferably, the opening 720 of the service port 716 is a few incheslarger than the active side 730 of gripper mechanism 736 to allow easieraccess. However, the opening 720 cannot be made so large that thepersonnel can reach along a side the gripper mechanism 736 to reach thedata cartridges 108. Shields 744 may be attached around the grippermechanism 736 to help block the opening 720 and prevent access toanything other than the gripper mechanism 736. Preferably, the gapsbetween the shields 744 and the service port 716 are sufficiently narrowthat a data cartridge 108 cannot fit through them.

The service port may be extended radially inward into the path of therobotics mechanism as it moves through the theta direction in situationswhen having access to most of the gripper mechanism is desirable. FIG. 9is a perspective view of a third embodiment of the data storage libraryshowing this type of service port 916. FIG. 10 is an overheadcross-sectional view of the third data storage library 900. Here, theservice port 916 has an opening 920 that allows the gripper mechanism936 to pass through the housing 906 as it transitions between theinterior region 104 of the library 900 and the exterior region 118.

A slit 944 is provided in the inner wall 946 of the service port 916 toaccommodate the arm 938 of the robotics mechanism 910. The slit 944 andarm 938 are sufficiently narrow to prevent the personnel (not shown)from reaching through the slit 944. Preferably, slit 944 is narrowerthan the narrowest dimension of data cartridge 108. This prevents datacartridge 108 from entering or leaving the housing 906 through the slit944. The gripper mechanism 936 portion of the robotics mechanism 910enters the service port 916 by rotating counterclockwise. Removing thegripper mechanism from the service port 916 is accomplished by rotatingthe robotics mechanism clockwise. In an alternative embodiment, theopening 920 may be located on the right wall, top or bottom of theservice port 916 and the motion of the robotics mechanism 910 adjustedaccordingly.

Opening 920 gives the personnel a sufficiently wide area to insert theirarms. To block this path into the interior region 104, a door (notshown) could be provided to cover the opening 920, as shown in FIGS. 2-4and 7-8. In this particular embodiment, access to the storage cells 102and data cartridges 108 is blocked by the geometry of the service port916 with respect to the storage cells 102. The opening 920 is spaced asufficient distance from all nearest storage cells 102 a so that thosenearest storage cells 102 a are beyond arms-length reach from theexterior region 118 through the opening 920 in the service port 916. Onelimitation of this approach is that it disqualifies a significant areaaround opening 920 for positioning storage cells 102. Another limitationof this approach is that mechanical devices can be used to reach furtherinto the interior region 104 to insert or remove data cartridges 108.

Referring to FIG. 10, one approach for further blocking access to theinterior region 104 through the service port 916 is to extend theservice port 916 along the interior wall of the housing 906. The serviceport extension is shown as element 916 a in FIG. 10. Now, storage cells102 can be mounted directly above and below the service port extension916 a to increases the capacity of the data storage library 900 whileproviding arms-length inaccessibility from through the opening 920 ofthe service port 916.

Another approach for blocking access to the interior region 104 is tocurve the service port extension 916 a through the height and thetadirections. FIG. 11 shows one example wherein the service port extension916 a has two right angle turns. These turns block access to theinterior region 104 of the data storage library 900 from through theservice port 916. Other types of curves may be used to achieve the sameblocking functionality within the scope of the present invention.

While embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described,it is not intended that these embodiments illustrate and describe allpossible forms of the invention. Rather, the words used in thespecification are words of description rather than limitation, and it isunderstood that various changes may be made without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention.

1. A data storage library comprising: a housing defining an exterior andan interior region; a robotics mechanism disposed in the interiorregion; a plurality of storage cells disposed in the interior region forstoring data cartridges; a service port disposed through the housing forpermitting access to at least part of the robotics mechanism from theexterior region, and for blocking access to the data cartridges when therobotics mechanism is aligned with the service port.
 2. The data storagelibrary of claim 1 wherein, to block access to the data cartridges whenthe robotics mechanism is aligned with the service port, the serviceport comprises a geometry that prohibits personnel from reaching fromthe exterior region through the service port to the interior region toreach data storage cartridges.
 3. The data storage library of claim 1wherein, to block access to the data cartridges when the roboticsmechanism is aligned with the service port, the robotics mechanismcomprises a shield that prohibits personnel from reaching from theexterior region through the service port to the interior region to reachdata storage cartridges.
 4. The data storage library of claim 1 wherein,to block access to the data cartridges when the robotics mechanism isaligned with the service port, service port comprises a geometry and therobotics mechanism comprises a shield that prohibit personnel fromreaching from the exterior region through the service port to theinterior region to reach data storage cartridges.
 5. The data storagelibrary of claim 1 further comprising a door disposed across the serviceport, the door having a closed position for blocking access to the datacartridges when the robotics mechanism is not aligned with the serviceport, wherein the door opens automatically to permit access to the atleast part of the robotics mechanism when the robotics mechanism isaligned with the service port.
 6. The data storage library of claim 5further comprising a sensor for sensing alignment between the roboticsmechanism and the service port and for generating a signal for use inautomatically opening the door when the robotics mechanism is alignedwith the service port.